SES San Jose Sessions Mostly Meet Expectations

SAN JOSE, CA - Attendees were generally pleased with the sessions at this year's Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo, but the reaction was mixed among exhibitors.

Consider one search marketing veteran's take on this SES.

"The conference definitely met my expectations," said Misty Locke, co-founder and president of Range Online Media, Fort Worth, TX. "There was a ton of fresh content that was relevant to the changes going on in the industry."

Ms. Locke's positive outlook is one of many.

"The conference was informative," said Jeff Wasson, CEO of Gusto.com, Springfield, MO. "Some of the people come here in hopes of learning a trick or two, but in reality there are just best practices being offered here. It pays to make sure your company has, and continues, to get that knowledge set."

People were especially impressed with the content at the sessions.

"The sessions were not only very informative, they were very rich in content," said Ashvin Naik, project manager at Microsoft, Redmond, WA. "This is my first conference and it really exceeded my expectations."

Mr. Naik added that he wanted to attend more sessions, but could not do so because they are concurrent. So he prioritized.

Even a search engine executive was all praise for this edition, though it's but expected.

"This is definitely the biggest conference and it had outstanding sessions and unbelievable attendance, which is an indication of the importance of search marketing," said David Roth, director of search engine marketing at Yahoo, Sunnyvale, CA.

Meanwhile, reaction on the exhibit floor was mixed.

"I think the floor traffic was consistent," said Rachel Klausnek, senior account executive at 360i, New York. "There is a good mix of large-scale brand marketers and the other end of the spectrum."

Another exhibitor agreed.

"It's a good conference," said Rob Schmid, who is responsible for business development at Best of the Web, Uniondale, NY. "There is overall good floor traffic."

But not everyone concurred with Mr.Schmid.

"The delegate quality was good, but the quantity of traffic was a little light," said Jodi Maher, marketing specialist at Miva, Fort Myers, FL.

Some people saw problems elsewhere, especially with logistics.

"I would say the traffic was fine," said Daron Babin, co-founder of WebMaster Radio, Fort Lauderdale, FL. "The vibe this year is different and I hope it improves."

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